INDUSTRY NEWSParker Hannifin has established a new Systems EngineeringCenter in Elk Grove Village, Ill. The site offers a 37,000 sq.ft.shop area in which the company can develop solutions fornearly any kind of motion control issue in mobile equipment.PUTTING ALL THEPIECES TOGETHERParker Hannifin’s new Systems Engineering Center brings multipledisciplines into one facility to address mobile motion control challengesBY MIKE BREZONICKThe northeastern Illinois com- munities of Lincolnshire and Elk Grove Village are about23 miles apart — probably more like18 as the crow flies.

But for Parker Hannifin, that distance represents a truly global leap
in terms of providing answers to the
myriad motion control challenges
being faced by mobile equipment
manufacturers.

Elk Grove Village, previously hometo the company’s acquired SterlingHydraulics Cartridge Valve opera-tions, is the site of the company’snewest Systems Engineering Center,responsible for North and SouthAmerica. Parker recently concludedthe legal and financial arrangementsand the renovation process, which isexpected to take a little less than ayear and total several million dollars,is under way.

“The first one was actually in Bor o as,”
said Peter Stambro, worldwide vice
president of sales and marketing
for Parker’s Global Mobile Systems
group. “It started out as a little red
barn that we’re expanding now so we
can have a larger staff of engineers.
That was the first one, and over here
we had a very small, basically a one-bay facility in Lincolnshire.

“But there is no question — this onewill be the showcase.”The Systems Engineering Centersare a concept that has evolved with-in Parker over more than a decade.While initially a function of the com-pany’s hydraulics operations, ithas been expanded to encompassnearly every motion control technol-ogy within Parker’s broad portfo-lio. And it goes far beyond simplythe engineering side to encompassbusiness development and salesactivities as well.“This is not only hydraulics or fluidconnectors,” said Art Donaldson,worldwide business developmentand systems engineering manager,continued on page 98